Vietnam Television remains the dominant force in media entertainment in Vietnam. The growth in cable and satellite TV combined with an almost blanket coverage in an industry dominated by state-owned stations. But channel diversity by the major broadcasters has been a key feature as the focus on niche markets grows. State-owned Vietnam TV (VTV) led the way in new channels with O2TV, a TV Shopping and Style TV – VCTV12, with a further two new channels in Invest TV and Real TV. In cable and satellite TV includes Hanoi Cable Television, Saigon Tourist-owned Saigon Cable TV (SCTV) and Ho Chi Minh Cable TV (HCTV) in Ho Chi Minh City, offering international cable TV programs such as HBO home movies, Star Movies, Cartoon Network, and Discovery Channel. In the meantime, local stations offer films and studios as well as music and entertainment. Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) broadcasts three channels that cover entertainment, advertisement services, and game shows on HTV7 together with a travel show. Local players like Vietnam TV (VTV) and Saigon TV (STV) remain the market leaders. Other developments include an increase in direct to home (DTH) subscribers. Research firm, TNS Media through its offshoot Vietnam, Kantar Media launched TV viewer surveys focused on the key channels of VTV1, VTV2, VTV3, VTV9, according to TNS Media managing director, Tran Thi Thanh Mai. Altogether the media and product surveys cover 20 cities and provinces of Vietnam’s three key economic zones in the north, centre and south. According to TNS data TV viewers in Vietnam watch an average of 4.3 hours per day. In the north of the country this is 4.6 hours on average, while in the South it amounts to 4.2 hours. There is a general preference for news and Vietnamese films although there is also a strong preference for game shows, while in the south of Vietnam there is a preference for Vietnamese TV series and reality TV programs. Anurag Naithani, business development manager – advertising for TNS Media Vietnam, notes an increase in channels is on the way. “Actually there are many new channels coming up,” Naithani said. New channels include joint ventures by overseas investors. “So the market is definitely changing,” he said. But TV series remain highly popular among viewers although the World Cup of football in South Africa – as in some many Asian countries – was a major drawcard. “So people are quite addicted to television. So television remains the number one means of entertainment in Vietnam,” Anurang told TVAplus. And for TNS the outlook is towards further programming research and development. From 2011 TNS plans to include Hanoi in using the “people meter” in electronic recording of viewer numbers. This will extend TNS reach from Ho Chi Minh City, and where in other key centres TNS still relies on manual recording of viewer program selection. But other surveys also point to a shift in media platforms in Vietnam. While television remains dominant, the internet has shown rapid growth over the past few years. A TNS Media/ Yahoo! survey based on 2008 data pointed to digital Vietnam as “an exciting and growing universe, creating an everchanging array of opportunities to businesses of all kinds.” The data showed that with almost total coverage of television viewer access across the country, there was little basis for growth. At the same time, growth was evident in personal computer usage. This had risen from 33 percent in 2006 to 53 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, home internet access had accelerated from 8 percent in 2006 to 25 percent in 2008. The survey concluded that while traditional media platform had stagnated in terms of growth opportunities, mobile and internet media were rapidly gaining traction. Internet access was high in major cities; Ho Chi Minh City (60 percent 20008), as well as Da Nang (54 percent 2008), Hanoi (49 percent 2008) and in Can Tho (29 percent 2008). But in advertising terms TV remained dominant accounting for 75 percent of ad spend, with newspapers at 13 percent followed by magazines (8 percent). But a key point was a decline in time spent on viewing TV from 295 minutes on average in 2006, to 233 minutes by 2008. At the same time, the internet accounted for an increasing amount of user time, from 22 minutes in 2006 to 43 minutes in 2008. Cambodia The youth market has been a target for Cambodia’s media sector given the the success of Cambodia Television Network (CTN) offshoot MyTV since its start in 2009. 60 percent of Cambodia’s 14.7 million population is under 30 years of age. MyTV’s success was evident in June data with a 32 percent viewer share of the 15 to 19 year olds. This was up from 20 percent in December last year. MyTV is clearly targeted at the country’s youth market, says Laurent Notin, general manager, Indochina Research (Cambodia) Ltd. “If you took MyTV – to target the young people and this is exactly what it is succeeding to do,” said Notin. “It is getting very, very popular. A lot of viewers in the 15 to 19 viewer category and is still increasing its market share since MYTV’s launch,” he said. The Indochina Research survey covers Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, K. Som and K. Cham. In the most recent covering May to June 2010 showed some 22 percent of viewers watched TV for over four hours a day, a further 22 percent watching three to four hours while 32 percent view two to three hours a day. “Watching TV is a leisure occupation especially on the weekend. People watch TV everyday or at least one to two hours a day,” Notin told TV Asia. “If you go to rural areas, if you don’t have electricity you will have at least one or two households with a TV screen that will be put on battery and in the evening everybody from the village will gather at the house to watch TV. Television is really, really the major channel of entertainment in Cambodia,” he said. “What most people watch the most often is – the Korea series are very popular,” he said. But they compete with Khmer and Chinese series are also highly popular. “It’s all about entertainment, night shows – and then it is about the news – like local and international news.” Indochina Research surveys found that series/soap operas accounted for 79 percent in popularity, followed by 77 percent for entertainment (concert, comedy, night shows) and 67 percent of viewers preferred to watch news. Some 30 percent of viewers were cable and satellite TV subscribers against 70 percent viewing analogue TV. In Phnom Penh cable and satellite ownership stood at 54 percent against just 10 percent in rural communities. Local cable operators accounted for 54 percent of all cable and satellite viewers, with 29 percent held by CCTV and 14 percent by PPCTV with just three per cent accounted for by DTV. In Phnom Penh CCTV holds 67 percent of the cable market share against 33 percent by Phnom Penh Cable TV (PPCTV). This is in contrast to the share in Siem Reap where a local cable operator accounts for 100 percent of all cable and satellite subscribers. “They have the local cable, maybe it’s not legal – and it’s just for one particular area,” said Notin. In the latest Indochina Research survey shows CTN (TV21) holding 63 percent viewer share in the initial survey period falling to 55 percent as the MyTV share grew from seven per cent to 11percent, Khemarak Phomin TV (TV5) held 11 percent that rose to 13 percent. Laos Lao TV viewers by late 2010 were set to enjoy “clear and stable” TV programs after the adoption of China’s digital video broadcasting standards, Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB). The improved outlook came after China Potevio Co Ltd, an IT equipment manufacturer and service provider signed a contract with Laos’ authorities. The moves marked a major step in improving the standards in the 28 TV broadcast stations using the nation’s digital TV network, a Beijing-based report said. Under the project over 50,000 households in Laos could “enjoy clear and stable” TV programs by way of more than 40 channels. “Laos, as a result, will become the first foreign country in the world to adopt the DTMB,” the report said. The Vientiane has historically long been the centre of Laos broadcast media. The border between Thailand and Laos is only marked by the Mekong River. Close cultural ties between Laos and Thais have long allowed those living in the capital to watch highly popular Thai soap operas, movies, talk and game shows. For satellite and cable subscribers on offer is the Thai-based True Corp satellite service offering the range of regional channels extending from the BBC to CNN, as well as all the Thai channels. Access is also available to Australia’s ABC Australia and Korea’s Arirang. A lower cost cable operator comes with Lao Cable TV available in Vientiane and nearby provinces. Channels include those in Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese – both from the mainland, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan – along with Japanese, and Russian, French – TV5 – and Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Italy’s RAI, music channels (MTV), and sports channels. Other cable operators service other cities and towns in Laos. Most are either Chinese or Vietnamese owned and operated allowing for only a limited range of English channels. But infrastructure development to support the media has been mixed. Building the country’s telecommunications infrastructure remains a priority. While fixed line telephone density remained low at two telephones per 100 people, the major growth has been in mobile use and access. Mobile phone penetration passed 50 percent early in 2010 after an annual growth of 66 percent a year earlier. This was due to a strong performance by Unitel, the Lao military owned operator which is in a joint venture with Vietnam’s Viettel. But internet services in Laos continued to lag. The Central Intelligence Agency’s Factbook put the number of internet users at just 130,000.